Once more, a big hello to everyone!This is your jovial blogger from Équipe 3, writing this time from Bonnyville, Alberta. For the past few weeks, we've been travelling from town to town, experiencing french hospitality at its best. First off, after our stay in Falher, was a travel day all the way to Fort McMurray; way up there in oil sands territory, then another day of travel to our current location. From here, we visited Cold Lake, Plamondon, and we’ll be making our way to St. Albert tomorrow.
Our stay here in Bonnyville has truly been memorable. How often can you expect to see an entire NET team staying in the middle of the Albertan wilderness, in a nice cozy little log cabin just like the ones you see in those cute Christmas movies? Not often. This is awesome! Picture it: a log cabin, facing a beautiful lake, with the essence of fall roaming in the air. To top it all off, on our first night here, we caught mother nature at her best: aurora borealis lighting the sky with green and blue pigment. It was awesome!
It was really great to have this time as a team! On top of all the retreat ministry we do on a daily basis, we got to spend time bonding as a team. Going for long walks along the lake’s shore, visiting the bison at the neighboring farms (reminded me of my Manitoban stomping grounds), and the casual wrestling match between guys...'twas pretty great! One thing that really struck me was the hospitality of the people here, it's amazing! I don't think I've ever seen so much great food in my life! The generosity they have shown us, and every host home for that matter, is so humbling!
Last Sunday a community, Notre Dame d’Evron, celebrated their centennial of being in Alberta with Mass. From the testimonials we witnessed, this community seemed to have had a vital impact on the Franco-Albertan community. But we discovered later on, sharing over brunch, how much of a missionary spirit these women truly had. One of them had spent over 40 years in the Ivory Coast in Africa! We witnessed the different ways in which the Lord reaches out to His people, in the last generation, through this type of permanent community, and in this generation, where He also works through new communities like NET.
We are seriously loving it here on the road! What an experience! I think the NET experience has been dubbed 'hard but good', and this stands true with our team’s experience to date. The Lord is very much present in our daily lives and ministry, and we are just counting His graces!
Praying for you all!
Kevin Prada
Équipe 3
P.S. On the top left hand corner is a picture of us remembering childhood fantasies aboard this play structure at the Plamondon school; and on the bottom, (from closest to furthest) Marise, Déneige, Katy, Evan, Christiana, me and Carrie, enjoying a walk along Moose Lake, which our cabin here in Bonnyville over-looks.
It was really great to have this time as a team! On top of all the retreat ministry we do on a daily basis, we got to spend time bonding as a team. Going for long walks along the lake’s shore, visiting the bison at the neighboring farms (reminded me of my Manitoban stomping grounds), and the casual wrestling match between guys...'twas pretty great! One thing that really struck me was the hospitality of the people here, it's amazing! I don't think I've ever seen so much great food in my life! The generosity they have shown us, and every host home for that matter, is so humbling!
Last Sunday a community, Notre Dame d’Evron, celebrated their centennial of being in Alberta with Mass. From the testimonials we witnessed, this community seemed to have had a vital impact on the Franco-Albertan community. But we discovered later on, sharing over brunch, how much of a missionary spirit these women truly had. One of them had spent over 40 years in the Ivory Coast in Africa! We witnessed the different ways in which the Lord reaches out to His people, in the last generation, through this type of permanent community, and in this generation, where He also works through new communities like NET.
We are seriously loving it here on the road! What an experience! I think the NET experience has been dubbed 'hard but good', and this stands true with our team’s experience to date. The Lord is very much present in our daily lives and ministry, and we are just counting His graces!
Praying for you all!
Kevin Prada
Équipe 3
P.S. On the top left hand corner is a picture of us remembering childhood fantasies aboard this play structure at the Plamondon school; and on the bottom, (from closest to furthest) Marise, Déneige, Katy, Evan, Christiana, me and Carrie, enjoying a walk along Moose Lake, which our cabin here in Bonnyville over-looks.
Les Équipes! Vous êtes tellement fantastique!!!!!! Je prie pour vous toujours!
ReplyDeleteJe suis tellement contente que vous êtes en Alberta en français. Serieusement, c'est incroyable.
JE VOUS AIME!!!!!
Suzi